A/n: This chapter occurs simultaneously as chapter 3 when Jeremy wakes up from the magical-induced coma.
One day, you will stand before its decrepit gate,
Without really knowing why…
Like a moth drawn to a flame.
Time after time.
For that is your fate,
The fate of the cursed.
~ Anonymous
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Friday, May 22, 2009 - [GPS Location Unspecified, Mystic Falls]
With fluttering eyelashes, a pair of murky hazelnut eyes blinks awake to expansive looming dark clouds ahead. Heavy arms push the lethargic body off the damp morning dew-covered greenery. Two yelling figures run down the hill and skid to a stop upon the large circular perimeter of withered ash clumps illustrating the shape of three outer rings. In their arms rest a standard hunting rifle.
The brown-haired man steps into the farthest ash ring and turns over an unmoving body, face obscure in the unkempt grass patch. A prominent hole in the chest cavity depicts the corpse's missing organ. A tidal wave of grief comes crashing out from the brown-haired man in violent ripples. He stumbles, dropping to his knees, liquid leaking out from his eyes and nose.
"Fuck. The mayor's dead," exclaims the female.
Gliding over, a hand reaches towards the shuddering man's shoulder, only to pass right through him.
Am I dead?
The female blonde companion hesitates for a second before she crosses over to the second ash ring. She, too, turns another body over, revealing a familiar face. The corpse is in a similar state as the previous body with the exception of clammy flesh and muscles, the skin texture is hardened granite.
"Who is she?" The blonde questions.
"The hell I know," the other counters. "Vampire," he points out and looks down at the mayor's corpse. "Werewolf."
He looks right past towards the third and empty ash ring. "Doppelganger," he murmurs.
A silvery wall of wisp envelops the arguing duo. Their voices dampen and turn to mute all the while their lips moving swift, eyes bright in anger. Their gestures grow wild and fierce.
But there is a pull. A nagging persistence to follow.
A cloaked figure gradually appears from the thin curtained of wispy smoke. Their hands remove the thin fabric covering their face.
An identical reflection.
An innocent, young woman with an oval face, light olive complexion, almond-shaped brown eyes, and dark brown hair. Her feet are adorned in sandals with thin braided straps. She is dressed in a simple long dress covered by a maroon cloak, the woman speaks, "It's not your time yet, Elena Gilbert. You must hurry."
Where am I?
"You must hurry," she urges and her head turns to the still-arguing duo. "The land of living cannot see us. They do not concern you now. Find your body or be lost in the smoke." The cloaked woman melts back into the smoke.
Elena breaks away from the shadowy wall she suspects might be a border between the living and the dead. She casts a final glance at Uncle John removing the daylight ring from the female vampire. Dawn breaks and the sun opens up like a flower on the horizon, rising to send petals of gold to warm the forest - leaf, branch, and root.
With sick satisfaction, she watches Monroe's corpse ignite and burn to ashes. She turns away and glides towards another, more insistent tug.
A yearning to be made whole.
She follows the strange sensation past the Lockwood mansion, past the Mystic Grill, and definitely past the offbeat side road that turns to the boarding house. She's flying along the highway above the somewhat empty road, littered with a couple of cars in each direction.
A more vicious tug.
Elena follows without a doubt. She sees it; the red Porsche speeding recklessly in the center lane. Her head pokes from above the car roof. Katherine sits in the driver's seat, chugging down a bottle of liquor with music blaring loudly. In the backseat, her physical body is lying asleep, wrapped in a thick swathe of blankets.
She dips further inside, hovering just above. Her hand; ghostly and trembling, caresses her left cheek.
The pull vanishes.
Her eyes blink open to the Porsche's headliner. Her arms are bound back by thick blanket layers. With a heave, Elena pulls herself abruptly upright.
A scream. Not her own.
A sudden force slams her entire body back and up into the headliner.
Darkness enfolds her.
A/n: What do you think? Love to hear your thoughts. Review/ comment down below, pretty please? I'll update quicker~ :)